"Ian" wrote in message
...
On 6 Feb, 00:13, Andy wrote:

And if you built a new one with modern adhesives the near infinite
fatigue life would be of some value. Many of the older wooden gliders
were retired because the glue holding those wonder composite
components together gave up the ghost.

As far as I know, the only major glueing problems have been with pre-
war gliders made with casein glue. Just about everything post-war used
urea-formaldehyde (cascamite) which is effectively eternal. My club is
happily using a Ka2 from 1955 which has had no glue problems.

That's wood-wood glueing, by the way. I know there have been problems
with the Oly wood/metal composite spars.

Ian

There's no simple way to categorize wooden gliders. Bad glue is bad, good
glue is good etc... The condition of an older wood glider depends heavilly
on the love and care it has been given. A wood glider is a high maintenance
mistress.

What I haven't seen discussed here is the sound of wood. If you whack
fiberglass with your hand it just goes "whack", metal sounds like a tin can
but, a wood glider sounds like a fine musical instrument. The acoustic
characteristics of wood shapes airflow sounds into changing musical chords
in a most pleasing way. The sound is addictive - once you have heard it,
you want to hear it again and again.

Bill Daniels